Sunday, November 27, 2005

John Hollingsworth, Jr. spent a snowy holiday in the mountains with his family. Here John dons his LaBelle clothes while walking along the highway in Tennessee in the Smokey Mountains. John was traveling with his father and mother, John Sr. and Mary Hollingsworth. Mary, why didn't you make Jr. wear a coat?

MOORE HAVEN, FL. -- The Glades County Economic Development Council willhost their annual luncheon Friday, Dec. 2 at noon at the new RiverviewRestaurant, formerly the Branding Iron, at Glades Resort. The public isinvited to attend and hear the proposed plans for revitalizing the city ofMoore Haven's historic riverfront district.

The Glades County Economic Development Council took another step insupporting the city's efforts to save the historic commercial district byfunding the establishment of a 501 c 3 to allow donations made to MainStreet Moore Haven to be tax deductible. The concensus of Main Streetconsultants is that if the city, through the Main Street initiative, canland two significant development projects on the riverfront, perhaps ahotel/restaurant or a residential complex on vacant land north of US 27,the next step should be to host a retail/marketing conference and inviteretailers/commercial prospects to tour the area.

Earlier this month, Traci Whirls, EDC Director joined historic preservationarchitect Robert M. Feild, AIA, Principal of Feild Associates of Baltimorein touring the historic commercial buildings along Avenue J, and met withproperty owners, collecting square footage data, making preliminaryestimates as to costs of rehabilitation and brainstorming concerningpossible mixed use development, perhaps by incorporating commercial/retailspace downstairs and offices/apartments or other lodging upstairs. Theyalso discussed funding opportunities for the various buildings'rehabilitation, including the potential use of historic preservation taxcredits, acquisition and development grant funds, and opportunities forprivate investment. The two also met with Banana Bay Tours owner FredTrepper and John Capece of Southern Datastream, Inc. for some brainstormingconcerning the riverfront and design for dockage.

"I think our best opportunities are based on our waterfront location, as adestination resort and gateway to 'gloriously natural Glades County,'" Ms.Whirls said. "I think we can build a niche market, by recruiting lodging,river/lake cruises, upscale dining and specialty shops."

Ms. Whirls cautioned that revitalization isn't going to happen overnight."Our first step is to take stock of our assets, devise an action plan andbegin to calculate how much rehabilitating our historic commercial districtis going to cost. The next step will involve working with property owners,potential property owners, city and county officials to finalize plans andidentify funding streams to make it happen."

Toward that end, the city of Moore Haven will hold a workshop Monday, Dec.12 from 2-6 p.m. to begin envisioning what a new, revitalized Moore Havenmight look like. Business owners, prospective business owners, publicofficials and residents are encouraged to attend.

Tickets for the luncheon, at the Riverview Restaurant, under new managementby Christopher, formerly of Christopher's in LaBelle, are $15. The menuincludes choice of beef or chicken buffet, soup, salad and drink. Ticketsare available at the EDC office, in the Doyle Conner Building, 900 SW US27, Moore Haven. Phone (863) 946-0300 to reserve your ticket.

Sunday, November 20, 2005

This vacant lot at 1194 SR29 backs up on Luckey Street in LaBelle. Apparently these tires have been stored here for years, and neighbor Beatrice Salinas has not been able to get the trash removed and resorted to coming to the Hendry Commission meeting this week to complain. Commissioner Kevin McCarthy said he would check it out and visit the site with her. The one acre lot is owned by the Minors family who purchased it last year from Lucretia P. Strickland.

Friday, November 18, 2005

LABELLE, FL. -- At its November meeting, the Hendry County Commission voted to refer a request to fund a study for a county purchase of the old Oxbow Golf Course parcels in Port LaBelle back to the west Hendry county recreation board. Hundreds of local residents overflowed the commission chambers Thursday hoping to persuade the county to purchase hundreds of acres around the Port LaBelle Inn to convert the land back to a golf course to be run as a municipal course to attract tourism as well as for a recreational area for residents.

Spokesperson Scott Wegscheid (Wegsheid shown speaking to commissioners - photo above) spoke for the community group S.O.A.R. giving the commissioners an overview of the benefits to Hendry county to fund an economic feasibility study on re-opening the former 27-hole golf course for the benefit of Hendry county's citizens. Commissioner Bill Maddox made a motion to not pay for a study but the motion died for lack of a second from the remaining three commissioners. Although the citizen group had already been to the Hendry recreation board once before, the commissioners voted to refer the matter back to them.

Current land owners have contracts pending to sell to an out-of-area developer who plans to ask for a change to the current county comprehensive land plan to change the zoning from its current recrational/leisure designation to planned unit development to allow for high density residential use. The developers official request could come as soon as January when the state's Department of Community Affairs accepts applications for changes to the Hendry comprehensive land plan.

In other business, Southern Garden's Chip Chapman asked for relief from a $10,000 county building permit fee to repair some $5,000,000 in hurricane damage to its citrus processing building in mid-county south of SR80. Southern Gardens in a division of U.S. Sugar Corp. Commissioner Kevin McCarty from Clewiston tried to help by suggesting everyone damaged by the hurricane be granted reduced fees including U.S. Sugar. Clewiston's commissioner Janet Taylor was absent from the commission meeting, but Commissioners Pelham, Maddox, and Harris agreed that fees could not fairly be reduced for some but not all, while reducing fees across the board would not be feasible with so much widespread building damage in the county.

Beatrice Salinas of 1103 Luckey Street in LaBelle complained to the commissioners about old vehicles and tires being stored in her residential neighborhood as well as dead limbs hanging in trees and in the power wires. She said she has called everyone at the county level, but nobody is doing anything. Commissioner Harris said he would personally come out to her home and check out the problem and "volunteered" Commissioner Bill Maddox to do the same. Maddox is Ms. Salinas commissioner.

As arranged by the faculty at the UF/IFAS Southwest Florida Research andEducation Center and the UF/IFAS Hendry County Extension Office, the groupwill tour two Immokalee-area farms, then travel to LaBelle, where they willhost a question-and-answer session from 2:00 - 3:00 PM with SouthwestFlorida agricultural interests including citrus and vegetable growers aswell as cattle, sugarcane and ornamental producers at the UF/IFAS HendryCounty Cooperative Extension Service on Pratt Blvd, just off Cowboy Way.

The group will tour Immokalee area farms and have lunch at the Immokaleeairport earlier in the afternoon and depart from the LaBelle airport afterthe LaBelle session.

PORT LABELLE, FL. (Nov. 16, 2005) -- A citizen's group calling themselves SOAR has banded together with over several hundred other Hendry and Glades county residents to ask the Hendry and Glades county commissioners to halt land developer's plans to rezone the Oxbow Golf Course at Port LaBelle to high density residential use.

SOAR, Save Oxbow As Recreation, spokespersons Jack Zorn, Scott Wegscheid, and Ken Downing say they would like the county commissions in both Hendry and Glades county to consider the feasibility of Hendry county purchasing the Oxbow golf course and running it as a municipal course. They say they have studies in hand that show the land would make a yearly profit for the county and keep the land as it is presently zoned as "leisure/recreation"to benefit the citizens of both counties as well as encourage tourist to visit the two counties. The group says they have over seven hundred petitions asking to keep the land as is for recreational use.

The 27-hole championship golf course land, including the Port LaBelle hotel was subdivided into 27 tracts in March 2003 after its owner found a need for fast cash for his other business interests, and an auction company sold off the parcels to about a dozen different investors. The 27 parcels sold were sized from five acres to 228 acres with most being approimately 10 acres. Among the local buyers were investor Stan Freedman, real estate agent Terry Pearce, real estate development company CHL,and investor L. Miners. The Port LaBelle Inn hotel property, built in 1981 on 5 acres, was purchased by LaBelle RV park owner Richard Siebel.

Reportedly, Siebel and some other buyers have contracts to sell their properties to developers who now want to rezone the land. The purchase contracts are allegedly subject to the developer obtaining permission from the Hendry and Glades county commissioners to rezone the land from its current recreational use to high density residential. Such a rezoning wouldalso require permission from the State to modify the counties' Comprehensive Plan, which mandates how much land in each county is required for different uses, including recreational use.

The purchase prices at the 2003 auction ranged from about $800 per acre for the bid on the 228 acre tract which included 15 holes of the Arthur Hills and Patrick Grelak designed golf course, to $5800 per acre for 14 acres purchased by CHL. CHL has built model display homes on it's parcel. The reason the prices were so low at auction, were because of the zoning on theparcel, which was mandated by the county for all the land to be used for recreation and leisure use, except for a hotel zoned on one 5-acre parcel.

The land has been zoned for recreational use for decades and the golf course was a profitable business for almost 20 years according to SOAR spokesperson Jack Zorn. He said he talked the golf pro who operated the golf course who told him that he ran up to 70,000 round of golf per year at one time at Port LaBelle.

According to Scott Wegscheid, a local land developer and the golf coach at LaBelle High School, the Hendry County Economic Development Agency, the Chamber of Commerce, and the Hendry Tourist office all are in agreement to support keeping the land for recreational use. All cite the probability of increasing tourist income to the counties as well as a probable profit tothe county if Hendry operated the golf course as a municipal course. The Women's LPGA in a past season held a qualifier tournament at the Oxbow Golf Course. SOAR spokepersons cite this as one example of the uniqueness of the course and the vistor dollars that golf brought to western Hendry county. Fund-raising Tournaments also supported local community sports activities according to Wegscheid.

The Hendry commission has scheduled the SOAR group on its meeting agenda Thursday Nov. 17 at 5 p.m. at the Hendry commmission chambers in LaBelle at the Courthouse. A Glades county zoning board will hear comment on rezoning of the golf course land at a 7 p.m. meeting at the Glades courthouse also on Thursday Nov. 17.

Thursday, November 10, 2005

MOORE HAVEN, FL. -- (Nov. 10, 2005) -- State Attorney Steve Russellannounced today that Glades County now has its own fulltime prosecutor.Thanks to the Glades County Commission and the Glades County Sheriff'sDepartment, offices have been provided within the Sheriff's Office for anAssistant State Attorney and in the courthouse for an administrativeassistant. There will no longer be a commute from LaBelle to prosecutecases. "This is a continuation of the long-range expansion plan for Hendryand Glades," says Russell. "It started last spring when we expanded theHendry County office and added an additional prosecutor to the staff tokeep up with the growing caseload." Russell says, "We will continue to addmore prosecutors, paralegals and support staff as resources permit."

Assistant State Attorney Christopher Klink is in charge of the new officeand works with his Administrative Assistant Tina Thigpen. Christopherbegan with the State Attorney's Office in 2003 working in the NaplesOffice. He transferred to Hendry County in the spring of 2005 to make asmooth transition as the head of the Glades Office. "Chris knows the areaand the people," says Russell. "By having an office in Glades County, lawenforcement will be able to receive timely information regarding the lawand will be able to receive immediate legal assistance in making arrests."So far this year, nearly one thousand cases have originated out of GladesCounty.

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Financial And Technical Assistance For Restoration Of Wildlife Habitats

LABELLE, FL. (Nov. 9, 2005) -- State Conservationist Niles Glasgow withUSDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service announces December 15 as thecutoff date for the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program. WHIP offersfinancial and technical assistance to install structural and managementpractices on eligible non-federal lands to address restoration of declininghabitats of South Florida. Conservation treatment activities approvedunder WHIP are carried out in accordance to a conservation plan that isdeveloped with the landowner or manager.

Priorities for WHIP include habitat restoration on declining habitats ofSouth Florida: South Florida Rockland (Pine Rockland/EvergladesFlatwoods and Tropical Hardwood Hammock), Scrubby Flatwoods, and DryPrairie. Final ranking will be based on the presence of declining habitats,management for declining species (including bobwhite quail), and removalof exotic, invasive species (including Old World climbing fern,Brazilian pepper, Tropical soda apple, Melaleuca, Cogon Grass and Downyrose myrtle).

Sign-up will occur in the following counties ONLY: Polk, Osceola,Brevard, Highlands, Miami-Dade, Collier, Hendry, Martin, Broward,Glades, Okeechobee, St. Lucie, Indian River, Monroe, and Palm Beach.Workshops will be held in LaBelle on December 7th at 6:30 pm; andKissimmee on December 8th at 6:30 pm to inform landowners of programparticipation. For additional details on the WHIP program, specificeligibility requirements to participate and further information onscheduled workshops, contact the LaBelle Field Office, 1085 Pratt Blvd.,phone 863-674-5700.

LABELLE, FL. (Nov. 8, 2005) -- When Oscar Villanueva returned to his homeat 2250 Panama Avenue in Pioneer Plantation on October 23rd. atapproximately6:10 pm he discovered Matthew Gronberg age 21 hiding in a closet. Mr.Villanueva called 911 to report the intruder. Hendry County Sheriff'sOffice responded and placed Gronberg in custody. Sheriff Ronnie Leestated that as a result of the follow-up investigation, Bronberg alsoconfessed to a previous burgulary at 2250 Panama Avenue as well aburgulary on October 20, 2005 at 2231 Panama that involved the theft ofmusical instruments and firearms that were sold/traded for crackcocaine. The investigation also revealed that Omer Rotelli age 21 was anaccomplice in the burgulary at 2231 Panama.

Gronberg was charged withtwo counts of Burgulary of a Dwelling, one count of Burgulary of anOccupied Dwelling, one count of Grand Theft of a Firearm and one countof Dealing in Stolen Property. Rotelli was charged with ArmedBurglulary, Dealing Stolen Property and Grand Theft of Firearms. Bothmen were booked into the Hendry County Jail.

LABELLE, FL. (Nov. 6, 2005) -- Hendry County Sheriff's Office Investigatorshave arrested James Pender age 19 for possession of marijuana. According toSheriff Ronnie Lee. Pender was arrested during the serving of a searchwarrant by the HendryCounty Sheriff's Office Criminal Investigations Division at 506 MartinLuther King, Jr. Boulevard in LaBelle. Pender was booked into the HendryCounty Jail.

Sunday, November 06, 2005

LABELLE, FL. -- In the last three weeks of October, there were only 2 homessold the LaBelle area for an average price of $250,000. A home sold for$90,000 on Robb Rd. and a $410,000 sale on West Cowboy Way in LaBelle.

PAHOKEE, FL. -- Governor Jeb Bush will visit schools in South Floridaimpacted by Hurricane Wilma on Monday. The Governor will be joined byschool officials, educators and students. The visits will take place at:8:35 a.m. at Gove Elementary School, 900 SE Avenue G, Belle Glade and at9:35 a.m. at the Pahokee Elementary School, 560 E. Main PL., Pahokee.

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

LABELLE, FL. -- Hendry-Glades Audubon and the South Florida Water
Management District will offer to the public escorted birding tours at
Stormwater Treatment Area 5 (STA-5) south of Clewiston in eastern Hendry
County. The first trip is
scheduled Saturday, November 12 at STA-5 from 8:30 a.m. to noon and
subsequent tours are scheduled regularly through April 2006.

The stormwater treatment areas, owned and operated by the South Florida
Water Management District, are vast, constructed wetlands that use
vegetation to naturally cleanse excess nutrients from water before it
enters the Everglades. These remote, shallow-water marshes attract many
species of nesting wading birds, migratory and other water fowl such as
great blue herons, wood storks, snowy egrets, great egrets and roseate
spoonbills.

Tours are open to anyone, but participants must register to
reserve a space on the trips. To sign up for the STA-5 Birding Tour:
Send an e-mail to Margaret England, at sta5birding@earthlink.net with your
name and contact information, the date you want to go, and the number in
your party. You may also leave a message at (863) 674-0695 or (863)
517-0202.

LABELLE, FL. -- Governor Jeb Bush this week activated Florida's SmallBusiness Emergency Bridge Loan Program to provide emergency, short-termloans to businesses in counties severely impacted by Hurricane Wilma.Applications will be available Friday in Broward, Collier, Glades, Hendry,Lee, Miami-Dade, Monroe, Okeechobee, Palm Beach counties and the Gladescommunities of Belle Glade, Pahokee, and South Bay. The Governor hasallocated $20 million from General Revenue to fund the Bridge Loan Program.The appropriation is made through a budget amendment pursuant to theGovernor's emergency declaration.

The state's emergency bridge loan program is designed to provide a sourceof expedient cash flow to businesses physically damaged during a majorcatastrophe, enabling them to quickly begin repairs and replace destroyedinventory. These short-term loans are intended to bridge the gap betweenthe time a major catastrophe hits and when a business has secured otherresources, such as profits from revived a business, payment of insuranceclaims or secured longer-term loans.

Short-term loans of up to $25,000 will be available to owners of smallbusinesses (less than 100 employees) in those counties most impacted byHurricane Wilma. The interest-free loans come in terms of 90-day or180-day maturities. To be eligible, a business owner must have beenoperational for one full year prior to Hurricane Wilma (October 24) andhave verifiable, physical damage to their business. The time fromapplication through closing of loans is as little as 72 hours.

For an application or more information on the program, please contact theGovernor's Office of Tourism, Trade, and Economic Development at (850)487-2568, or the local economic development office in counties mostseverely impacted by Hurricane Wilma: Glades, Okeechobee, and the Gladescommunities of Belle Glade, Pahokee, South Bay contact Lynn Topel at (800)620-3602. Hendry County contact Janice Groves at (863) 675-6007

IMMOKALEE, FL. -- Check out the beauty of the sky from a dark site. If theweather is clear, you'll see lots of stars and perhaps a few stray meteorsas well. Several telescopes will be available for even closer looks atcelestial objects. This event will take place at the CREW ManagementCenter, approximately 12 miles east of I-75 on Corkscrew Road (CountyRoad 850).

Look for a large sign with a waterdrop logo on it on the right side. FromSR 82, go south and west approximately 6.5 miles and turn left at thewaterdrop logo sign. Drive about 1.5 miles on the gravel driveway to thebig brown house. Bring plenty of bug repellant, drinks and somethingcomfortable to sit or lay upon. This event is free, but will be cancelledif the sky is cloudy. Reserve your space by calling 275-3435 before 4 pm onFriday November 4th. If you need more specific directions, call 657-2253

LABELLE, FL. -- Moving closer to normalcy, Hendry county schools are open today, although Central Elementary is holding classes at the Eastside/Westside Elementary School in a fairly complex schedule of classes. Most businesses are open for business in the area.

The LaBelle Airport has opened for air traffic after being closed for a week after hosting the dozens of trucks bringing in water and ice. But the Airglades Airport west of Clewiston remains closed. Dozens of aircraft are temporarily stuck there while the county clears debris. Many hangars were damaged including newly constructed ones, and extensively damaged were the hangars housing the U.S. Sugar Corp. executive aircraft.

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

CLEWISTON, FL. -- Florida's Agency for Workforce Innovation, announced this week that individuals who have lost jobs or businesses as a result ofHurricane Wilma may be entitled to Disaster Unemployment Assistancebenefits. On October 24, 2005, President George W. Bush, in response to arequest from Governor Jeb Bush, declared a major disaster for Broward,Collier, Glades, Hendry, Lee, Martin, Miami-Dade, Monroe, Palm Beach, andSt. Lucie counties, clearing the way for use of federal funds to provideassistance to individuals affected by the disaster.

Although many workers will be covered by the state's regular unemploymentcompensation program, those not covered may apply for Disaster UnemploymentAssistance (DUA). This is a federally funded program, which assistsindividuals who become unemployed as a direct result of a declared disasterand who do not qualify for regular unemployment benefits. The program alsocovers self-employed individuals, owners of farms and ranches, farm andranch workers, as well as fishers and others who are not normally coveredby state unemployment compensation.

Applicants must file for disaster benefits within 30 days of the date ofpublic notification. Therefore, DUA applications must be filed no laterthan November 28, 2005. To be eligible for either the regular stateunemployment compensation program or DUA, the applicant must be a legalresident. To be eligible for DUA benefits, an individual must haveexhausted all entitlement to any regular state unemployment benefits andmust have been working in or residing in a county for which the disasterhas been officially declared. DUA benefits are available to unemployedindividuals for up to 26 weeks from the date of the disaster declaration. The 26-weeks assistance period for Hurricane Wilma ends April 29, 2006.

Federal regulations provide that the unemployment of an individual iscaused by a disaster if the individual: (1) becomes unemployed as a directresult of the disaster; or (2) is unable to reach the place of employmentas a direct result of the disaster; or (3) was scheduled to begin work anddoes not have a job or is unable to reach the job as a direct result of thedisaster; or (4) has become the major support for a household because thehead of the household has died as a direct result of the disaster; or (5)cannot work because of an injury caused directly by the disaster.

Applications for DUA may be filed by Internet at the following web siteaddress: http://www.fluidnow.com (indicate on theapplication that it is a disaster related unemployment claim). Telephoneapplications may be filed by calling 1-800-204-2418. Hours of operationare 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM EST, Monday through Friday.